A Chained Heart
by ramblingsdaily
Summary: Penelope Garcia had her whole life planned. There is nothing more than she wanted than to be one of the best bakers in the world. Her plan came to a halt when she receiving unexpected news. Just as she is finally about to restart her plan until she realizes that someone even more unexpected has entered her life once again after six long years - the reason behind her chained heart.
1. Prologue - The Original Plan

**Prologue - "The Original Plan"**

 _"You can't be serious," Penelope Garcia muttered to herself as she clenched onto the ends of her shirt. The feeling of fear and worry overcame her whole body as those words rang repeatedly in her head. "You need to test it again!"_

 _"Miss Garcia, we did a blood test. It's as accurate as it can be." The doctor start looking through some of the paperwork for her to sign. "If you could sign on this piece of paper, we can schedule an appointment and - " She glanced up at the sound of the chair screeching against the wooden floor and Penelope rushing out of her office. "Miss Garcia!"_

 _Penelope Garcia could never imagine that something like this would happen to her. She had her whole life planned. She had just graduated from baking school, she was supposed to start an intern job at a local bakery. Why is this happening to her? Her plan is being destroyed before she could actually start on it. Feeling confused and dizzy, she clenched onto the pole next to her as she breathed heavily. Her eyes squinted against the bright sunlight, the sounds of cars beeping continuously at other cars were too blaring. As soon as it was clear to cross the street, she started running. She's screaming on the inside as she ran without a single thought._

"Mommy?" Penelope blinked her eyes back to reality with her hand clenching onto the handle of a pan and the sounds of the eggs cooking made her realize that she was remembering the past again. She turned to glance down at her little boy, Jensen. "Mommy, why am I going to the daycare today?"

She smiled as she placed the eggs, toast and bacon onto a plate. "Today is my first official day at work." Penelope exhaled deeply as she picked Jensen up and placed him onto his seat. Sliding the plate of food in front of him, she ran her hand through his hair to fix it. "It'll be my first day as an intern," a soft smile forms on her face as she watched her son eat. "I'm a bit nervous. Do you think I'll do okay?"

"Yeah." He clenched onto his plastic cup of orange juice with two hands since he couldn't handle the balance of it with one hand. "You always work hard."

Penelope laughed. "You're so sweet." She exhaled deeply before checking the time on her watch. As soon as Jensen finishes his breakfast, she has time to drop him off at daycare before heading over to the new workplace. After taking six years off to work part time at a local diner to help support Jensen when he was baby, she is finally able to start the plan that she originally had. Her life is finally starting to get together after six years of pending the plan. It's more than being nervous, it's the fact that she not only has to work for her own but also her child. Having him was unexpected and she did freak out that year when she found out from the doctor. She kept cursing at herself for being so stupid and careless but when she gave birth and looked at her son for the first time. That's when she knew that she wouldn't change anything in the world than for that one moment - the moment Jensen was wrapped in her arms in the hospital room. "Come on baby," she picked him out of his seat and grabbed his backpack. "Time for daycare."

. . .

She halted her steps and looked up at the building in front of her, she breathed in and out slowly as she shake her hands on the sides, trying to shake off this nervous feeling may never work but she would like to believe it does for now. Penelope slowly made her way over to the reception desk, staring at the old woman. "My name is Penelope Garcia and I am here for my first day as an intern. It's for - "

"Delicate Bakery & Co." The old woman glanced up from her nails as she pointed over to the hallway where the elevators are. "Fourth floor. I hope you know what you're doing."

"Excuse me?" Penelope doesn't quite understand what she meant by those words.

The old woman scoffed as she looked at her. "You're the sixth intern this month. Being an employee for a company like Delicate Bakery won't be easy. You do realize how big this business is, right? It's not just cakes and cookies."

"Ah, I see." Penelope knit her eyebrows and held onto her hands tightly. "Thanks for the warning." Making her way over to the elevators, she pressed the button for the fourth floor. Those words aren't helping her nerves at all.

 _Delicate Bakery & Co_ isn't just a simple company that sells cakes and cookies. The development of the company dates back to only four years ago. Even being a fairly new company, it has managed to be the number one company that people trust and love for their future weddings or any other special events. They always make a racking amount of millions a year due to the high priced pastries. Important people all over the world entrust their events with this company because they provide the best deal. In this one building, it's separated as a corporate building and a bakery. The internship that Penelope will be working is for the bakery. As far as she knows, she is the one that will handle the phone calls, orders paperwork and such for the bakery. Her dream job, the ending goal of her plan from six years ago - it's to be considered as one of the best top tier bakers in the world. It's far-fetched dream but with the thought of Jensen being taken care of and happy, it'll be her motivation. The elevator door opened and her jaw almost literally dropped on the floor. It's so beautiful. It's everything she has imagined to be working at since graduating from baking school.

"You must be Penelope Garcia," a young lady who was holding onto a chart in her hand looked at her up and down with a slight frown expression on her face. "Aren't you a bit old to be an intern?"

"I'm twenty-seven years old," the expression on the young lady's face answered the prejudice that Penelope knew people would have on older woman who are interns. "Yes, I can be considered as too old as an intern. I will definitely work hard no matter what."

"Relax," the young lady said as she started walking, indicating for her to follow with. "Save those words for the actual boss. I'm Lynda Bryan, the assistant of this floor. Each floor has a different assistant by the way, you will need to memorize the rest of the names for future problems." She halted her steps and opened the door to an incredibly massive office. "This is Delicate Bakery & Co's CEO office. Yes, I know. CEO's offices are usually located on top of the buildings. You can say that our boss is a bit unique. He wanted to be near the process of planning and making the pastries as much as possible."

"He sounds dedicated." Penelope said softly as she looked around the office with wide eyes. Someone actually works in this office? It's as if it'll take 500 steps to reach the other end of the office.

Lynda snickered. "Dedicated? That's an interesting word to describe him. He is currently in a brief meeting, he'll be in here in a few minutes. You should sit down and wait for him. CEO will discuss what he expects from you. Once your discussion is done, I'll come back in and show you around." She started heading toward the door but then slowly stopped. "Miss Garcia, I wish you good luck."

"Thanks."

"Oh, I really mean it. Just a bit of a FYI, three of the six interns that came in for the first day of work got fired as soon as the discussion was done." Lynda shrugged his shoulders and briefly smile, the kind of smile you automatically know isn't sincere whatsoever. "Hopefully you won't be the fourth."

Penelope exhaled deeply as the door closed and the nerves in her body immediately escalated. She tried to look for the name on the desk but it's nowhere. Would it be rude to take out her phone to do a quick search? She had assumed that she would be working under a manager so she didn't really do research on the actual CEO. Her hands froze in her pockets when the door opened and a man in a suit walked into the office. His hair was styled to the side, a rough beard covered his face, his chocolate brown eyes stared back at her as the doors shut behind him. "Penelope?"

Despair and shock ran through her spin as she stared at him. This can't be happening, this can't be happening to her right now. Not at the moment where she finally started her life - her plan again. Her hands began shaking again, this time not due to the nerves but to feeling of hatred and anger overcoming her. Penelope is staring at the man across the room who has halted her plans six years ago. "Luke Alvez..." she muttered under her breath as tears brimmed against her eyes.


	2. Chapter One - Different Lives

**Chapter One - "Different People, Different Lives"**

For her, life had always been considered as a strict schedule. Since she was seven years old, the only person she had to watch out in the household was herself. Her parents were either out at work or having wine night with friends. She considered that household as the survival for the fittest. Before she knew it, she fed herself every night by making sandwiches or buying food at the stores by herself with money she would make from a lemonade stand. If she were to really estimate, she would've seen her parents once a week. By the time she turned fourteen, she became a pro at handling everything on her own. The strict schedule she created herself was meant for her to stay focus and never falter under pressure. Despite not having parents, who were providing the parental guidance that she needed, she made sure to guide herself through every obstacle blocking her way. She wouldn't say she was a happy child growing up but rather an adult in child form. By the time she was in high school, she became inspired to become a baker because it was something that made her happy. Half the time when she's alone at home, she would bake endless cookies to share with her teachers. Sometimes she would even bake a cake when it was somebody's birthday. Hearing compliments that she never received as a child from strangers instead of her own family, it gave her a weird feeling. The type of feeling as if she should've felt this way earlier on in life but it was okay. With the praise and love that she was receiving from just making a couple of cookies or stack of cakes, she smiled for the first few times since she was born.

That's when she decided to on what she wanted to be after graduating from high school. To become an aspiring top baker in the world, people say it's really a far fetched dream but with the right determination and focus, she knew that she could do it as soon as she finished school. Life became ironic when her parents suddenly started acting as if she mattered in their lives. Once they heard that she wanted to attend baking school, she saw them more at home during her last week of high school than she did for eighteen years living under the house. They demanded for her to attend university and go for an actual career. The most hilarious part was the fact that they didn't do that for her own benefits but for theirs. Insisting that if she chooses to become a baker, she would be considered as a joke in the whole family. Her parents are lawyers, one of Virginia's top class lawyers that only the best of the best celebrities, politicians and business people come for help. Her older brother became a doctor, one of the most prestigious doctors at the largest hospital. For eighteen years, she lived life as a dull, unhappy person under the household. For once when she found something to do, her parents wanted to put an end to it.

Not wanting to listen to their comparison on what kind of class she should be due to their wealth and power, she stayed on track and immediately enrolled herself into baking school. When her parents found out, they did the exact thing she knew they would do. Her school funds were cut off and she was kicked out of the house. They wanted nothing to do with her just because she wanted to follow her dreams. It didn't make her angry or upset, people like her family - doing something as low as that, it's the norm. And Penelope had already prepared for the worst. Through high school, she took a part time job to save up the money for the payment of the first two years of baking school. As soon as she graduated high school, she took on another part time job as she balanced baking school at the same time. Eventually, she made enough money to pay off the remaining two years all on her own.

Penelope didn't know how to be happy until she surrounded herself with people that shared the same interests as she did. She learned so much from baking school, something that gave her the surge of excitement that no one else could possibly understand. For her, that strict schedule that she depended on was either a bad or good thing. With it, she got to be where she was in baking school with the right determination. But also with it, it constricted her of many things because she didn't know how to react on certain things. And living with that type of strictness, it was hard to break out of it. Balancing between baking school and work for more than two years, she struggled to truly make friends or be happy when she wasn't baking. Oddly enough, by the third year, she met somebody who not only broke the strict schedule but made her feel incredibly happy and bliss with life - for some time before everything fell apart on it's own.

 **Present Time**

"And this will be your desk," Lynda turned around and knit her eyebrows at the blank expression on Penelope's face. "Hello?"

Penelope blinked her eyes in confusion when she saw Lynda's fingers snapping in front of her face. "I'm sorry?"

Lynda sighed as she pointed toward the desk again. "This is your desk, you will be working as a secretary on this floor. And when you - "

"Wait a minute," Penelope stared between the desk and Lynda in confusion. "I'm a secretary? I thought I was supposed to be an intern? An intern for particular department, right?" When she got this job, the idea of working under somebody as an intern to get more hands on learning, it was the most exciting part of the internship. Now, she is being told that she is a secretary instead? "There must be some mistake." Even earlier, this woman had commented on how Penelope was too old to start out as an intern.

"It's not a mistake," Lynda confirmed as she flipped through the pages on the clipboard. "For us, Delicate Bakery & Co starts out their internship differently. Our CEO doesn't trust people who come here for internship that much. He wants to see if the employees are capable of handling more of a task than they signed up for." She handed over the documents for her and briefly smiled. "You will be working under the Team Leader on this floor as his secretary for three months. Under the determination and evaluation of the team leader, the CEO will be the one to decide if he wants to further advance into a position that can actually help out the company."

"Team Leader on this floor?" Penelope skimmed through the documents. As soon as she saw the familiar name in bold letters, her eyes widened as her jaw literally dropped to the floor. "Derek Morgan? I will be working as Derek Morgan's personal secretary?!"

Lynda looked at her nails, making sure her nail color isn't chipped. "Yes, the actual Derek Morgan." The certain kind of tone in her voice by the way she answered made it seem as if she had confirmed the news with the same sentence numerous of times in her years here. "He actually starts work at a later time. He should be here in an hour." She checked the time on her watch and gave Penelope one last glance. "If you have any questions, don't come to me. I have a lot of things on my own plate so figure things out on your own. That's what people do around here, okay?"

Before Penelope had to time to process those words, she watched as Lynda turned around and started strutting across the floor with her heels. She stared at the beautiful heels for a lot longer than she had originally wanted. Even as a child, she never really wanted materialistic things. Nothing about it gave her the same kind of excitement that baking does. Throughout high school, she watched as other teenagers show off their new purses and lipsticks as if it's the most important things in the world. Penelope had tried to get into those type of stuff before but she just couldn't quite understand the concept on worrying about what to wear or what kind of jewelry fits best with a certain outfit. And eventually, she was never given a chance to look at materialistic things anymore. Penelope became more worried about how much diapers she should buy that can last her for a month. Would the price of diapers, toys, clothes for the baby cost her the amount of rent this month or the next? With her family cutting her off, she didn't properly have enough money to survive on her own. With a child? There was a bit of a struggle for the first two years until she got the hang of things. Letting Jensen be happy and have the affordable things she can buy for him was more important than a simple pair of heels on the market.

Settling in at her new desk, she exhaled deeply to control the nerves in her body as she looked around the floor. She was so caught up with her thoughts that she had just realized that she didn't hear anything of what Lynda said about this floor. As she glanced around, she watched as the other employees run around in their heels and shoes - some were rushing toward a copy machine while others were having a conversation about a certain product. She's under the corporate building, isn't she? Frustrated at how she can't start off as a baker right away, Penelope turned back around to look at her own reflection from the laptop screen. Her eyes adverted over to the small calendar on the corner of her desk, it's only March. Three months, she thought to herself. She has to be a secretary for three months and who knows what other position she will have to do before she can actually learn something.

Her eyes adverted over to her phone. Unlocking her phone, she smiled at the picture of Jensen as her wallpaper. The old Penelope, she probably would stress over the unexpected position and start researching everything about it. She would've spent hours on making a schedule so she could accommodate with the other things on her list. Eight years ago, that probably would've happened. Now, the sight of her son just makes her instantly happy and she isn't scared of the unexpected events any longer. There is no such thing as a strict schedule anymore, she doesn't need it. If this is how she is going to start her new job, she will just have to put up with it. For her own child's happiness, anything is possible. Nothing could ever - she stopped thinking and turned her attention over to the far corner room of the floor. The CEO's - no, Luke Alvez's office. She closed her eyes and silently groaned to herself out of frustration. She completely forgot about his existence, let alone at the fact that he's her boss now.

. . .

Luke stared blankly at the resume in his hands. Penelope's name is on the paper in bold letters. He briefly closed his eyes before he placed the paper faced down onto his desk. Rubbing his temples in silent, he tried his best to get his mind together. The sound of knocking on his door distracted him and Lynda walked in with a stack of folders in her arms. "What is all of that?"

"Some of the employees need you to sign off on some of the products that we need," Lynda informed him as she gently placed the folders in front of him. "They can't work until your signature is there."

He almost rolled his eyes. "Can't work? There is no such thing as can't work unless they are just lazy." Skimming through of the list that the employees need for their work, he sighed as he took out his pen from inside his suit. "I don't care if we have to keep buying more papers, pens or whatever they need to get work completed. Tell them if they use the lame excuse as 'can't work' again, I will make sure they won't work in this company again." Luke warned without a single beat. Handing over the folders, he leaned against his seat and shut his eyes. "I want all the Team Leaders to be at the conference meeting on time. If I sit in there for more than thirty minutes, those who don't show up will face consequences."

Lynda nodded her had at the known acknowledgment of the single rule that runs throughout the company. Luke Alvez never likes sitting in the conference room for more than thirty minutes. As soon as time has hit its mark, he doesn't care what conversation was happening or if someone was trying to suggest an idea, he would just walk out of the room. "Would you like coffee or tea today, Sir?"

"Coffee." Luke replied as he loosened the tie around his neck.

Lynda clenched onto the folders and nervously looked at him. "I'm sorry to keep asking this but how do you take your coffee again?"

Luke closed his eyes as he softly scoffed. "Miss Bryan, how long have you been working for Delicate Bakery?"

"Three Years, Sir."

"It honestly surprises me that you still can't remember the way I take my coffee after working as my assistant for three years so far," Luke opened his eyes and looked at Lynda. Standing up from his seat, he walked over to the windows and crossed his arms as he stared at the view outside. "Three packets of sugar and half cream." From the reflection, he could see Lynda jotting it down in her notes before rushing out of his office. Luke tapped his foot against the floor board as he stared blankly toward the clouds. There are so many thoughts roaming around his head, he simply can't think properly right now. How is this even possible? In six years, of all people, why did it have to be her? Feeling irritated and at a complete loss, he could feel the locked memories that he hid away were starting to creep back up after so long.

 **Seamless Bakery School, 8 and a half years ago.**

 _Luke rubbed his eyes as he glared at the board in front of him. No matter how hard he tried to stay focus and pay attention to the lesson today, he just can't bear to stay awake. Feeling extremely tired and less motivated as everybody else spoke in hush, excitement tone about the upcoming baking exam - Luke is dreading over the day. He's currently repeating his third year in baking school for the second time. As humiliating as it is, there is nothing he can do about it. His instructors has already given up on him at this point. The amount of effort they put in to help him on successfully bake a single cake has reached it's limit. While other students have already made every known bakery good in the world by their second year, Luke still hasn't made a single one. And it's not like the bakery school is going to do something about him since he had already paid for his classes in advance. Most of his time, Luke would spend in silence during class. On days where they are actually in the kitchen, he would be stuck with fanning out the smoke that he caused._

 _With a strain on the back of his neck, he quietly exit out of class and started roaming around the hallways. Since it's the weekend, there are only two active classes for the day. As he paced around the halls, he halted his steps once he heard a conversation by the corner. Leaning against the wall, he watched as an instructor took a bite of a piece of cake and moaned in delight. "Penelope, this is totally on the next level. It's seriously unbelievable."_

 _A young woman with a small smile spread across her face as she held the cake. "Thank you."_

 _"You amaze me every single time." The instructor took another slice of cake and patted Penelope at the back. "Top of the world."_

 _Luke watched the young woman's expression carefully. Besides the small smile from earlier, she is practically stoned faced. Furrowing his eyebrows together in confusion, shouldn't someone smile at a compliment being told? As the instructor walked back into her class, the woman placed the lid back onto the cake so it wouldn't go dry. Before Luke had time to process it, he stared at her as she started quietly screaming to herself as she jumped up and down in excitement. He chuckled at the sight of her dancing for a few minutes before turning around to return back to class. If he's gone too long, he'll receive a penalty toward his grades._

 _"Hey!" Penelope rushed over to him, grabbing his arm and forcibly turned him around to face her. "Did you just seem me uh, dance?"_

 _"If you call wiggling your arms and legs in the air as dancing, sure." Luke chuckled._

 _Penelope groaned in humiliation as she cleared her throat. "Do you mind if you erase the image of the dancing out of your mind?"_

 _Luke stared at the woman who he doesn't know but somehow grew an interest in within seconds of talking to her. "That depends," he glanced down at the cake in her hand. "Are you willing to share another piece of cake?"_

 **Present Time**

Luke tapped his fingers against the conference table as he stared at the team leaders in the room. Drawing out a deep breath, he adverted his eyes over to the wall across the room. "Where is Derek Morgan?"

Lynda cleared her throat as she checked the time on her watch. "He sent a message about how he's currently stuck in traffic. He'll be here in ten minutes."

"I've been sitting here for ten minutes already," Luke said coldly as he opened up all the folders that the team leaders had handed over to him. "Is this really all of the ideas that you have for the spring season?" Spring season is the busiest season any bakery or flower shop can have due to the fact that a lot of holidays fall into that season. Having the perfect baked goods is critical for a company like theirs. One little mistake or failed product, their sales will suffer a plummet. "I asked for new ideas," he looked at them in annoyance. "I didn't ask for a list of ingredients for a possible recipe to be made. There's no such thing as a possible recipe in this building. Either you have an idea and the ideal format of how the product will come out, possible recipes are nothing but just a list for me. How are you 100% positive that these list of ingredients are going to sell? How is it going to compare with the items on display that we have for Delicate?" He closed all the folders in frustration. "And how are you positive that it will work with our image as Delicate Bakery & Co?!"

Tara Lewis cleared her throat as she pulled out a different folder. "I actually have a proposed idea with everything that you're asking. I think that this idea does fit with our image perfectly. Since spring season is here, I was thinking that maybe we can add a couple of new flavors for one of our - "

"Lewis, what department did I assign you to be in charge of?" Luke interrupted her, his eyes are now focusing toward the walls - not wanting to look at anybody in the room at the moment.

"Marketing Department."

Luke folded his hands as he spoke. "I didn't know that the marketing team had any involvement on what kind of bakery goods or pastries will be on display for Delicate. I assigned you for the marketing department because you have talent in that particular area." He snapped his fingers for Lynda to hurry and grab the folder that Tara is holding. As soon as the folder was placed in front of him, he took it and looked at Tara straight in the eyes. "I hope you will refrain yourself from trying to come up with ideas like this. It will have no use, it's the same exact thing I told you three weeks ago. When I said no, I meant it." He threw the folder over to the trash bin by the door without hesitation. "I don't care what hard work was done byyou to come up with those useless ideas but forget about it. Are we on the same page now?"

Feeling as if she could say nothing else to convince otherwise, Tara simply nodded her head. "I understand."

Checking the time on his watch again, Luke lets out a sigh. "Text Derek Morgan again and if he isn't here in five minutes, he's getting another warning."

. . .

Penelope couldn't believe how big the company's guidebook actually is. She has been trying her best to read through the guidelines of how the company wants their jobs done and what area she needs to work on but this book has to be at least 500 pages. In one glance, it's understandable since Delicate Bakery & Co is a company that holds 25,000 employees. If something like this didn't exist, the employees would think they could do anything in the building. She groaned as she lay her head against the table. If she was her younger self, she would find reading through all these pages as purely nothing but something that had to be strictly done. Now, this her, the different Penelope Garcia - finds things like this a complete nuisance. She has gone through three years of constant diaper changes, milk being thrown at her face and food that had to be cleaned off the floor more than twice. She was so busy doing all of those things, reading anything became a bother and time consuming. There is absolutely no energy in her twenty-seven year old body to look through a 500 page guidebook like this.

The sound of elevator doors opening distracted Penelope from her thoughts. Automatically, she stood up with her eyes widened and a bright smile on her face as she watched Derek Morgan walk out of the elevators. She couldn't believe this is actually happening. The actual legendary Derek Morgan is here in front of her. With years of experience under his belt, he became a world champion of two international baking competitions. Some of his baking are considered as one of the most unique fusion creations there is. "Hello!" Penelope quickly said as he stopped by her desk. "I am your new secretary. My name is - "

"Follow me." Derek said as he looked through his phone and started pacing faster toward the conference room. Knocking on the door twice, he opened it with a bright smile as he made eye contact with Luke. "Alvez! I am so sorry for being late!"

"It honestly surprises every single time how you always happen to be late when we have our weekly meetings like this, Team Leader Derek Morgan." To his own surprise, he watched as Penelope followed Derek's every movement after entering the conference room. Avoiding eye contact with her, he turned his gaze back over to Derek. "What was it this time? Your cat died?"

Derek lightly chuckled. "Nonsense," he took out a folder from his briefcase and smiled. "Traffic." He glanced around at the others around the table, he could tell that somebody got yelled at. Considering at how he's the only one that has the courage to say his mind toward Alvez, he leaned against his seat. "Come on, did you seriously yell? How old is this?"

Ignoring his comment, Luke exhaled deeply. "Where's your proposed idea?"

Penelope stood in the corner of the room in complete amazement. She could feel her hand shaking from nervousness as she stared at everybody in the room. Only the best of the best in Virginia are sitting in the same place as she breathes. Is this even real life right now? Her eyes couldn't look away from the woman with effortlessly long, wavy blond hair and clear blue eyes and her name is Jennifer Jareau, even her name is beautiful. Jennifer can be considered as the best baker in Virginia. With five gold medals from competitions around the world, she is practically an idol for most aspiring bakers. Being so young and extremely talented, six of the ten most popular bakery goods for Delicate is all of her own creation. She contributes a huge part of her talent toward the success for Delicate. Sitting across from Jennifer was Spencer Reid, probably the most successful one out of everyone in the room. Due to his amazing academic background, it's almost as if he can do anything if he puts all his energy into it. Maybe that's why his designs on the cake are completely out of this world. The attention and details that he puts into some of the most amazing designs are insane. For Penelope, it would take her more than a year to try and perfect the same kind of design. For Spencer Reid, an hour or so - he would be completely done and the cake is off to being on display for people to purchase.

Holding the folder up in the air for Lynda to quickly grab it from him, Derek watched as Luke scanned through the pages. Furrowing his eyebrows together, he looked around for the woman that he had just ordered to follow him. What was her name? Crap, he thought to himself. Did he just ignore her because he was too busy reading Lynda's message about Luke giving him a warning if he doesn't come in five minutes? Finding her in the corner of the room, Derek waved his hand but she still didn't respond. "Hey! New girl!"

Penelope returned back to reality at the word new girl ringing through her ears. "Yes?"

"I need my coffee." Derek said. "Two sugars and one cream."

"Coffee?" Penelope cleared her throat. "Of course."

Luke looked down at his desk, noticing that he still hasn't had his coffee. "Miss Bryan."

Lynda glanced up from her tablet. "Yes?"

"I clearly remember you asking about my coffee, don't you remember?" Luke hit the table gently with his closed fist as he arched an eyebrow.

Her eyes widened at the realization that she forgot about his drink. "I am so sorry, Sir. Let me get it right away."

"No!" Derek urged Lynda to sit back down in her seat as he laughed. "New girl is getting mine so she should also get his."

Lynda looked at Penelope. "Uh, the way he takes his coffee is - "

"Three packets of sugar and half a cream." Penelope muttered softly absentmindedly as she walked around the table. She halted her steps as soon as she noticed everybody was staring at her now.

"How do you know about the way he take his coffee?" Lynda asked in confusion. Even she has a hard time remembering it after three years and that's only because she has the tendency to not remember things about people who she dislikes.

Penelope didn't know what to say, she just froze. For the first time since being in the room, both her and Luke exchanged eye contact with each other. It only lasted for five seconds but that much was already enough for her. "The reason I know is - "

"I told her when you first brought her in before she started working today." Luke interrupted. "Can we go back to the meeting properly now?" From a side glance, he could see Penelope rushing her steps out of the room. "This proposed idea of yours," he looked at Derek. "Do you believe this can be our next best work?"

Derek chuckled at the fact that Luke still has doubts on him. "Trust me. I believe that if Jennifer and I work together to perfect the details with each other and taste out the product. Whatever is missing, we'll add it and go on from there." He smiled at Jennifer. "There isn't a problem right?"

Jennifer shook her head. "No." She knew that if Derek wanted his creation to come into a reality, he could just do it on his own. The fact that he is bringing her into the project is because he didn't want to be lonely and suffer through Luke's upcoming harsh critics about the product if it goes bad.

Taking his pen out of his suit, he signed off on the idea and directed his attention toward both Derek and Jennifer. "I want this to be tested by next week and the final product out in two weeks. Spring Season isn't a joke and we need a new headliner for the buyers. One mistake, it will cost both of your jobs."

"We understand."

Spencer glanced over at the folder that was thrown in the trash bin earlier. "I think maybe if you also try and - "

"It's been thirty minutes. Meeting's dismissed." Without another word or even glance, Luke stood up from his seat and walked out the door.

Tara scoffed as soon as the room was cleared with only her and the rest of her friends. "I seriously despise him."

Lynda sighed as she leaned her head against Jennifer's shoulders. "I hate my job."

Derek arched an eyebrow at the tension between his friends. "What happened? Did I miss something major? Was he seriously yelling?!"

"Towards Tara," Spencer answered. "It would help if you would stop being late all the time for these meetings. You know that he hates you the most so his anger towards you is directed towards us if you're not here!"

"He loves me," Derek corrected, barely holding in his laughter as soon as those words left his mouth. It's not a secret that he and Luke Alvez personally don't get along. Their opinions and personalities clash at each other a lot. This year alone, they've had countless of fights in the building that had to be stopped by other employees. "I'll try to be on time next time."

"Don't try," Jennifer warned. "Be on time next week."

Derek frowned as he walked toward the door. "I don't know. I think my cat might be sick next week." He immediately ducked when they started throwing pens at him which caused him to hit the floor as he laughed even harder.

. . .

Luke clenched onto his tie to loosen it as he fasten his steps toward the hallways. Just as he turned the corner toward his office, he bumped into Penelope. The sounds of the glass shattering onto the ground was deafened by Penelope's sharp scream. To keep her from falling onto the broken glass, he quickly wrapped his arm around her waist. They both froze as soon as they noticed that their faces were inches from each other.

Penelope breathed heavily as she clenched onto his button shirt. She glanced between the broken glass that's right under her and then Luke, who is still staring at her. Feeling suffocated at the close proximity, she pushed him off and straightened her clothes out as she cleared her throat. "Thanks."

Looking down at his drenched coffee stained shirt, he rolled his eyes at the mess that surrounds him. "You need to be careful next time."

It's as if her ears were blocked but she could've sworn that he is trying to put the blame on her. "Excuse me? You're the one that bumped into me!"

"I wouldn't have bumped into you if you - " Luke just stopped talking. "What's even the point of trying to argue with you?" He was about to leave but he stopped and stared at her. "I am telling you this now but I am warning you. This company will not know the history between us. It's none of their business and we have no business with each other besides work related."

Penelope scoffed. "Don't worry. It'll be the last thing I want everybody to know about me."

"If one word gets out, I'm going to - "

"What? Fire me?" She could really careless about him right now. "If you want to fire me, go ahead."

"Fire?" Derek walked over with his arms crossed as he looked between the two adults. "I hope you're not already thinking about firing my new secretary, Alvez. That'll be the sixth one, give me a break."

Luke didn't bother looking at him as he was checking if his sleeves were also dirty. "She might not be the most qualified secretary for us."

"And how are we supposed to know if she is truly qualified or not if you want to fire her?" Derek bent down to help Penelope clean up the broken glass. "A lady shouldn't be picking up sharp things. It could harm their hands, let me help you."

"No, it's really okay." Penelope insisted as she tried to stop him.

Luke watched as the both of them laugh in silence. The way that Penelope was literally staring at Derek Morgan as if he was some kind of role model somehow didn't make him feel good. Without another glance, he walked straight into his office.

. . .

He knows what people think of him on daily basis. He knows what people say about him as soon as walks past them around the building. Nothing in his own company is a secret. For him, he doesn't care about those little things because they don't affect his life whatsoever. In other terms, he is the one that signs their paychecks at the end of the month. Whether people like him or not, that's their own business. If they decide to openly share their dislike about him to other people, he doesn't care.

Luke Alvez wasn't always like this - the stoned cold expression and no funny business type of guy. In fact, eight years ago, the old Luke Alvez was actually the complete opposite. He grew up as a happy child, there was nothing that he didn't have. He wasn't rich or even well off. His parents struggled to keep hold of four different jobs but they never complained. In his household, his parents made him believe that they were in a castle. Anything he ever wanted, he would've had it by next day. From a child's perspective, he believed his parents were wizards. It wasn't until when he reached middle school that he slowly realize how harsh life was for his family. Knowing the truth only caused him to work harder on making his parents laugh after their hard day at work. He would always make sure that he had ton of stories to share around the dinner table, he would stop complaining about not having a bedtime story before bed because he wanted his parents to sleep early instead. Eventually, he became determined to work hard on himself as student so his parents could have a son that they were proud of.

Happiness was always something that he was surrounded around growing up. It wasn't until his third year in baking school is when he learned how it felt to have your happiness taken away and fall into a deep depression for years. The longing pain that kept growing, the aching heart that wouldn't go away - everything that used to make him happy, makes him extremely angry more than anything. His parents said he was awfully different nowadays and they don't even know how to face their child. That's how severe it got and he knows that it'll probably get worse as times goes on. It's as if he is a different person with a different life than how he was eight years ago.

 **Present Time, Sunny's Diner**

"Ah, there is my favorite customer!" The cook handed over the packed bag over to the waitress and smiled. "Always on the same exact day and time."

Luke briefly smiled as he placed some cash onto the counter. "This is the best food to eat on a Monday night."

The waitress sweetly smiled at him as she gave him the cash change. "Take it easy on the bacon, handsome. You may be in your twenties, it doesn't matter if you keep stuffing yourself with so much bacon even if it's your favorite."

"Thanks."

Luke took his late dinner and was about to head out of the door when he saw someone familiar sitting at the back of the diner. Penelope was so preoccupied with cutting up the bacon slices into smaller pieces that she didn't notice anything else around her. "I don't understand you. You could've chosen anything to eat for dinner and you picked breakfast?" She narrowed her eyes at Jensen as she made some tsking sounds with her tongue. "Was the breakfast I made for you not good enough?"

Jensen giggled as he colored in his book. "Your breakfast was good, Mommy."

Sliding the plate of bacon over to him as she cleaned up his coloring book, she smiled at the sight of him trying to chew the bacon. "You just love bacon too much, don't you?"

"It makes me dance!" Jensen started wiggling his arms and legs around which made Penelope hysterically laughing because his legs were still dangling in the air since he's short.

Luke couldn't believe this. He never thought in a million years that he would see Penelope Garcia with a child next to her, somebody who looks like an exact replica of herself. Did she get married? When did she get married? Is she happy with her husband and kid? For some reason, the aching pain around his chest is returning and as he stared at them. He took a step forward but halted when he heard somebody calling out Penelope's name. One small glance, a man came out from the bathroom and smiled brightly toward her. Not wanting to stay here any longer, he clenched onto his packed dinner bag and rushed out of the diner.

Penelope glanced away from Jensen and screamed in delight at the sight of her friend. "Rossi!"

David Rossi chuckled as he hugged her. "Hey, kid."

Jensen waved his oily hand at Rossi and smiled. "Hi, Uncle Rossi."

As Penelope and Rossi held onto each other's arms while they discussed about their day, Penelope failed to see Luke driving past the diner and toward the dark road ahead.


	3. Chapter Two - Unexpected Seriousness

**Chapter Two - "Unexpected Seriousness"**

Penelope stared at the laptop screen in front of her. It has been exactly two hours since she arrived to work and she has done nothing by run copies for people around the floor. Checking the time on her watch, there's another forty minutes until Derek arrives for work. Only a week has gone by since she started working in Delicate and the one thing she is mostly curious about is why Derek Morgan always starts work two and a half hours later than everybody else in the company. Penelope hasn't exactly made friends to ask questions. What she has collected so far about the people on this floor is the fact that there isn't no funny business. Most of the employees are either running their own meetings about certain projects and the others are rushing to the bakery side of the building to run some ideas with bakers. One of the most frustrating part of this secretary job is the fact that she has yet to set foot inside the bakery side of the building. For just a second, she would love to see the behind the scenes action of the huge bakery. It would be such a big learning experience for her. Her eyes glanced away from the laptop screen once she heard the echoing sound of Lynda's high heels on the floorboard.

From what she understood from the guidebook that was given to her, Delicate Bakery Co has exactly twenty-two floors. Each floor has one main assistant and a team leader for each department. Located in the first floor is the reception area. The second to third floor belongs solely to the bakery. The fourth to sixth floor is the Marketing Department with Team Leader Tara Lewis and her own assistant. The seventh to ninth floor is the Human Resources Department with team Leader Stephen Walker and his own assistant. It goes on and on with the same kind of pattern with the exception for the 20th floor to the 22nd floor. For those three floors, it belongs to three different team leaders that take charge of the bakery decision for the company. Spencer Reid's office is located on the 20th, Jennifer Jareau's office is located on the 21st and the 22nd's floor which is considered as the top floor - belongs to Derek Morgan and the CEO, Luke Alvez.

With what she can gather from her short time here so far, the 22nd floor is the floor employees avoid the most. Unless it's really needed, no one dares to push the button for this floor in the elevator. Penelope blinked her eyes as soon as she heard the elevators open. Thinking that it was Derek, Penelope stood up to greet him but she paused once she saw Luke Alvez exiting out of the elevator. He slightly paused his steps as soon as he noticed Penelope but quickly ignored her as he walked toward his office. And the sole reason behind the fear and avoidance by people for this exact floor is due to Luke Alvez. Surprisingly, not much people like him and it's as if he knows it too and just doesn't care.

"Penelope," Jennifer Jareau walked over with a folder in her hand as she looked at her. "When Team Leader Derek Morgan comes in for work, hand this folder for him. Tell him it's the new updated details I have for our spring season project."

Penelope nodded her head. "Yes, Ma'am."

Jennifer arched an eyebrow at her. "Don't call me that. Jennifer is fine." Without another word, she turned around and headed toward the stairs. After staring at Jennifer for a week, Penelope has learned that she doesn't like using the elevator. Besides being a world champion baker with tons of gold medal, she is also a fitness maniac. If there is a way for her to input some fitness into her work hours, she'll take it.

The elevator doors opened just in time with Derek Morgan exiting with sunglasses still on. "Uh, this is from Team Leader Jennifer Jareau. She said it's about the spring season project."

Derek took the folder out of her hands and briefly smiled. "I'll be in my office. If I need anything, I'll just call you up."

"So," Penelope knit her eyebrows. "There's nothing for me to do? Again?" She doesn't get it. Does he doesn't trust her with some of his work? All she has been doing is running copies or read through the pages for the guidebook. Anything involving the actual person that she has to help, there is nothing.

Noticing the kind of tone she was using, Derek chuckled as he crossed his arms and leaned against his office door. "You're upset."

"What?" Penelope cleared her throat. "Why would I be upset toward a team leader?"

Derek lets out a small laugh before he opened the door and indicated his hand for Penelope to follow him inside. As soon as he was settled in his seat, he pointed toward the chair across from him for her to sit. "Here's the thing about me that you have to understand, Penelope. Unless there is something that I truly need help on, I don't call anyone for guidance. In the kind of situation and project I have going on that's under the watchful eyes of CEO Alvez, I am under a lot of pressure. With the kind of pressure I am facing, I like to be alone and diligent in my own work."

"You're working with Team Leader Jennifer." Penelope pointed out.

He arched an eyebrow. "She has been my partner for the last two years in this company. I feel comfortable around her when I work on things." He folded his hands onto the desk and smiled. "It has nothing to do with you or the mere fact that I don't trust you. The position you work as for this company as we speak is secretary. You're not my assistant. I know you've noticed that every team leader has one with the exception of me. The reasoning behind that is due to the fact again, I like being alone." He turned to his laptop screen, quickly typing in the password. "I read your resume."

Penelope blinked in surprise. "You did?"

"For a twenty-seven year old, your resume seems a bit lacking." Derek straightforwardly said.

"Ah," Penelope shut her eyes for a brief second. She knew it would come back and bit her in the butt for being so lacking. "The situation is that - "

Derek chuckled. "I don't need you to share your life story with me, Penelope." Opening the second drawer to his left, he took out her resume. "The one information I noticed here is that you actually attended and graduated Seamless Bakery School with high honors." She briefly smiled and nodded her head as a response. "And if I am reading this correctly, the position you actually applied for here is an intern. I'm sure Lynda already explained how the internship works in this company but why is a twenty-seven year old working as an intern when she graduated six years ago?"

"I had a late start on things after I graduated." Penelope explained. She clenched her hands together, practically feeling her nails digging into her skin. "It's better late than never, right?"

He nodded his head as he placed the resume back inside the drawer. "I was going to ignore what happened last week on your first day of work because it may be extremely uncomfortable for you. But if I want a better understand with my secretary, I have to at least know a bit." From his office windows, he watched as Lynda and Luke walked past and entering the elevators. "Luke Alvez also graduated from the same school in the same year."

"Oh." Penelope simply said.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the both of you know each other," Derek stated. "And I'm going to test my luck again and say that the history that you both have aren't exactly considered as memorable or good."

Penelope didn't know what to say. She doesn't want the fact that she had a relationship with the CEO of the company to affect how people look at her. "Team Leader, if I can overstep - "

Derek smiled. "Look, like I said, it's not that I don't trust you or anything. I just really don't have work right now that could have your help. The only thing I can say is if I have clients calling me or people looking for me, I only ask for you to inform them that I am busy working on the spring season project." He shrugged his shoulders as he opened the folder that Jennifer gave him. "I can understand where you're coming from. Working in a position that you don't know about when your talent belongs elsewhere is hard. The baker inside of you is screaming out, demanding to actually work with your hands and create things that can bring joy to someone else's life. Trust me when I say, I've been there." Derek skimmed through the pages as he spoke to her. "Just have patience and your day will come." He looked at her one last time before going back to the folder. "Sometimes in a company like this, doing nothing is definitely better."

Penelope nodded her head. "Thanks."

. . .

Luke crossed his arms as he watched the bakers discuss over the specials for the new week. He extremely hate Mondays for purely this reason. It's as if no one has their mind ready for this day. Adverting his attention over to the display cases, he scanned through all the bakery goods that were there. "Where are the cream puffs?"

Jennifer tied her hair into a ponytail as she answered. "We didn't have time this morning to make them."

"I'm sorry," Luke said. "You didn't have time to make them?"

"The thing is," Grant Anderson, one of the bakers for Delicate, cleared his throat as he stepped forward. "We were busy taking in orders for one of our regular customers. They have placed an order for over 450 macaroons by tomorrow afternoon. We were busy making the batter for the order and lost track of time."

Luke looked at all of the bakers. "So basically, none of you assigned the cream puffs to one person? You just thought that maybe today we can go forward without the cream puffs on display?" He adverted his attention over to Jennifer. "I expected something as forgetful as this from basic people but you? Team Leader Jennifer, I expect more from you."

Jennifer had to keep herself from rolling her eyes as she put on her baker uniform on. "I was a bit busy focusing on the spring season project this morning. I didn't know about the cream puffs until briefly." She glanced over at the other bakers, who had sullen expressions on their faces. "I don't think keeping themselves in order to make a customer's orders that wrong. Would you rather go on a day without cream puffs or lose a valuable customers that gives us bigger profits?"

Lynda, who always stands in the back, widened her eyes by the sudden remark by Jennifer. Besides Derek, no one else in this company ever dares to speak back to Luke. Is Jennifer on drugs this morning or what? "Sir, we have a conference call with London in five minutes."

"What about the macaroons? Have you finished making them?" Luke questioned.

"No," Grant replied. "We put it on hold since today is going to be busy with the event that we're being assigned with Team Leader Jennifer."

Jennifer checked the time on the clock. "As you know, there is a wedding event that the bakers and I have to attend to." She stared at Luke and briefly smiled. "Mayor Strauss's wedding, your good friend."

Luke sighed. "Go on." Without another word, he walked out of the kitchen and halted his steps at the bakery, staring at all the customers who were waiting in line for their orders. "Tell Team Leader Tara Lewis that I want the monthly rate for this month."

Writing it on her notes, Lynda nodded her head. "Yes, Sir." She followed Luke into the elevators and leaned against the wall as the elevator continues to go up. Deciding to test his patience, she leaned over and looked at him. "The cream puffs, what do you want me to do about it?"

"What do you mean?" He furrowed his eyebrows together as he narrowed his eyes at her. "Do you bake?"

"No..."

"Then what the heck are you able to do about the cream puffs?" Luke turned his attention back toward the elevator doors as it opened. Stepping out, he lets out a scoff. "Don't ask such a useless question like that ever again."

Lynda halted her steps and let him walk into his office on his own. As soon as the coast was clear, she kicked her legs up in the air as she imagined kicking his butt in her mind. "You don't have to be a jerk about it!" Turning around, she looked at Penelope. "I hate my job."

Penelope could only show a small smile. "What was that about?"

"Let's just say that Mondays aren't exactly CEO Alvez's favorite kind of day." Lynda sighed. "You know what's funny? For the four years since the grand opening of Delicate, I haven't seen him lay a single hand in the kitchen. He keeps complaining about the bakers downstairs when they don't do their job properly but what about him? Does he even know how to bake? How is he even the CEO when I haven't seen him do anything besides scold employees for three years."

"I wouldn't know those answers since it's only been a week since I started working here." Penelope answered. "I don't even know him."

Lynda sighed. "You're lucky."

"Penelope watched in silence as Lynda headed toward the break room to probably make Luke's coffee. The question from earlier is now constantly ringing in her head. _Does he even know how to bake?_ She stared blankly at the laptop screen as a memory came rushing back.

 **Luke's Apartment, 8 and a half years ago.**

"Add in the two eggs to the mixture and stir," Penelope instructed him. "Make sure you don't get any egg shells in it."

Luke looked at her. "You act as if I don't know how to crack an egg." He wiggled his eyebrows as he took out an egg from the fridge but halted his steps when one of the eggs dropped onto the floor. "Alright, that's my bad."

Penelope laughed. "You have to focus when you bake, Luke."

"I am!" Luke said. "Your beauty is just too dazzling that I am getting clumsy. You made me drop an egg!"

She made a disgusted face at the flattery before she slapped his arm playfully. "Stop it. How are you going to pass the baking exam if you can't bake a simple white cake." She walked over to the fridge to grab another egg. "Come on, you have to focus in order for this cake to be perfected." Penelope glared at him. "We're not going to sleep until you make the perfect white cake."

Luke arched an eyebrow. "So, you're staying for the night?"

Penelope slapped him on the arm again. "No." She cracked one of the eggs and added it into the mixture. "I have my own exam to worry about. Unlike you, I have two written exams and an actual baking exam to do. You only have to bake a white cake and you'll pass third year in baking school. I have to bake macaroons and - "

He sighed. "You're right," Unlike his other peers, the fact that he only has to bake a white cake to pass third year is a bit weird. Maybe it's due to the fact that he was supposed to have that done by second year. Or is it a trick? What if as soon as he passes this baking exam, every single thing that he missed about other baking techniques and bakery goods will bombard him next year? Does that mean he has to work extra hard since he has more things to study up and test on? "Staying back another year really is doing damages to me."

Penelope smiled. "At least you're learning and improving now."

Luke cracked the other egg and started mixing it when he noticed an small piece of egg shell in the bowl. "Damn it."

"Here, use a spoon and - " Penelope's eyes widened when Luke started searching for the egg shell with his hand. "Luke!" She was too shock to even speak. Instead, she started laughing hysterically at how cute Luke was being. The focus and attention in his eyes that he has for the egg shell is something she has never seen from him. "Why are you being so serious about the egg shell?!"

Blinking his eyes as he successfully took out the egg shell, he turned and looked at Penelope. "You said that I won't be able to sleep until I get it perfectly done!"

"Yeah but," Penelope clenched onto her stomach once it started hurting because she is laughing too hard. "I've never seen you so serious in my life!"

"You've only known me for two months." Luke corrected her as he concentrated on mixing the bowl. "And I can be serious and mean when I want to be, Penelope!"

Penelope stopped laughing and silently rolled her eyes. "Luke Alvez, you're the most happiest and positive person I know." She leaned against the kitchen counter. "As behind as you are in baking, I think everybody in the school can agree that you're the one that makes them laugh the most. You have this aura around you, Luke. People can't help but love having you around them."

Luke stopped mixing and stared at her. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do you love having me around?" Luke carefully repeated himself. Since the day they met each other in the hallways, they were inseparable. For two months, Penelope has been teaching him everything that he missed, letting him gain confidence in his own baking. There wasn't a single day where they were apart for some reason. "Never mind, don't answer that." Luke adverted his attention over to the mixture and cleared his throat. "So, what do I do now?"

Penelope scratched the back of her neck out of awkwardness. "Uh, take out the tins and pour the mixture inside. The oven has already been preheated so once you finished pouring, just put it in the oven."

After doing what Penelope instructed, Luke backed away from the oven and leaned against the wall. "So," checking the time on his watch, he exhaled deeply. "You can leave since you have a long night ahead for you. I mean, if the cake doesn't end up being edible, I'll just redo everything until I do it right."

"Are you sure?" Luke nodded his head and handed her the car keys and her jacket. "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow then."

Luke smiled. "Of course. Let me walk you out the door."

Penelope followed behind him. As the front door opened, she stepped out and turned around. "Have confidence in yourself. I know I laughed about it but it's not a bad thing to be serious sometimes. As happy as you are, I know you'll be happier once you graduate from baking school with the rest of us. You taught me to be happy and pause to have a laugh, I'm just returning the favor with this advance."

He chuckled as he held onto the doorknob. "You're right."

"Alright," she slowly puts on her jacket and waved goodbye. "Bye."

Luke watched as she started walking away. He clenched onto the doorknob even tighter as she becomes further away from him. Taking a deep breath, he is just going to go for it. "Penelope!"

She turned around and looked at him. "Yeah?"

"I have something to say," walking out of his apartment, he slowly paced himself towards her. "There's something that I've been meaning to tell you. I've been on the edge lately because of it." Luke looked into her eyes, it was one of the first things he noticed about her from that day in the hallways - they're so beautiful. "Penelope, I - " his eyes widened from surprise when Penelope leaned forward and softly kissed him.

 **Present Time**

"Penelope," Derek leaned against the doorway from his office as he held out the folder in his hand. "Jennifer is leaving in ten minutes. I need you to show her the new updated information I have before she goes. I need to know what she thinks so I can get started on the project."

"Okay, do you know where she is?" Penelope asked as she stood up.

Derek checked the time on his watch. "Now? She should be in the kitchen downstairs where the bakery is." As soon as Penelope took the folder, he smiled. "Don't say that I never gave you work."

Penelope softly smiled at his comment. "I'll be back." Walking toward the elevator, she quickly got in and pressed the first floor button. That's when the realization hit her. She's about to actually enter the kitchen of the bakery. An even bigger smile plastered on her face as she did a little dance in the elevator. She has always imagined at how big the kitchen would be for a huge company like Delicate. Are there over 20-30 bakers in one kitchen? If the bakery is really connected to three floors, does that mean there's a kitchen on each floor? Once the elevator opened, she rushed out because the curiosity is seriously killing her. Pacing herself so she doesn't look like a crazy woman, she walked into the bakery and straight toward the kitchen. "Ma'am - " she paused and remembered what Jennifer had said earlier. "Jennifer..."

Jennifer carefully took off her baker uniform and stared at Penelope. "What are you doing in here?"

"Derek wanted you to take a look at the updated information before he starts on the project." Penelope handed over the folder and quickly scanned the kitchen. She's in complete awe. This kitchen is as huge as a garden. It's almost too ridiculous to be true. The utensils, the tables, the ingredients - they're all so clean and shiny. She was about to touch the closest thing near her when Jennifer handed back the folder. "You're done looking over it?"

"Tell him that he needs to make that cake before Luke starts asking about it." Jennifer quickly puts on her jacket. "I have a wedding to take care of. See you around, Penelope."

Penelope watched as Jennifer and two other bakers walk out of the kitchen. She counted to one minute in her head before she start running around the kitchen. "Oh my God," she couldn't believe that she's actually inside a Delicate kitchen. "State of the art oven." She muttered to herself happily. Noticing a piece of paper on the middle of the gigantic table, she knows that she shouldn't look at it but one peek wouldn't hurt.

 _450 macaroons orders for Lillian's Bridal Shower. Batter is all set but will start making them tonight when we come back._

"450?!" Penelope gasped in shock. "How are they only going to start tonight? An order like this takes half a day."

"What are you doing in here?" Penelope jumped in surprise as she made eye contact with Luke. "I said, what are you doing in here?"

Penelope cleared her throat. "Derek wanted Jennifer to check on some information for the spring season project and I was here because she needed to check it off before he starts - "

"I don't see team leader Jennifer Jareau in here." Luke pointed out.

"That's because she just left and - "

Luke opened the kitchen door and sighed. "If she isn't here anymore, you shouldn't either."

Penelope doesn't even want to talk to him any longer. As she walked out of the kitchen, the door swiftly closed behind her. Leaving her speechless at how rude he has become, she rolled her eyes. "Six years does change people." Taking a look at her watch, she halted her steps and glanced back toward the kitchen. "It's only the afternoon, why would he be in the kitchen?"

. . .

Derek smirked at the little note that Jennifer had written for him inside the folder. "Thanks, Penelope."

Penelope nodded her head and watched as he started walking out of his office. Taking it as he is going to go off and do the project, she settled in her seat and sighed. "Wow, Penelope. You've been here for four hours now and you managed to complete two errands." She groaned to herself as she tapped her fingers on the desk. "Only five more hours to go."

. . .

"I told you that it would work," Derek said through the phone as he cleaned up the mess he made in the break room. "Jennifer, I just spent six hours in a break room, testing out flavors. It's going to work, trust me."

Jennifer yawned as she put the keys through the hole. "It better work. Hey, the wedding was pretty cute."

"A wedding is a wedding." Derek said as he cleaned his hands in the sink.

Jennifer rolled her eyes. "Why do men think like that?"

"Why do women always want to spend tons of money toward one event?"

"A life changing event," Jennifer corrected him. Collapsing onto her couch, she yawned again. "It's late. Why are you still there anyways?"

Derek walked out of the break room and looked around through the darkness of the floor. "Do you honestly believe I want to be here this late? I lost track of time." He started walking past the secretary desk when he noticed Penelope there, asleep. "JJ, I'll call you back." Hanging up the phone, he furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion as he leaned forward to get a closer look of her. With his arm propped on the desk, he carefully look at her face. A smile spread across his face when he noticed the little post it note near her hand. Taking it off, he silently chuckled at what it said.

 _Sleep for only thirty minutes. Wake up and ask around if anyone needs copies. And ease on the staring at Derek, you wouldn't want him to think you're crazy. Also, try and sneak back into the kitchen and gather some baking inspiration from the aura inside there._

"You're one interesting woman, Penelope Garcia." Derek said softly before placing the post it note back where it originally was. Walking into his office, he grabbed his jacket and car keys before walking back over to the secretary desk. "Penelope."

Opening her eyes to the sound of her name, Penelope sat up in her seat and blinked her eyes in confusion to find herself surrounded in darkness. "Why is it so dark?"

Derek laughed. "Maybe it's because it's past nine."

"What?!" Penelope checked her phone to see a missing call from Jensen's daycare. "Oh God!"

"Do you have to rush somewhere?"

Penelope quickly grabbed her own jacket and car keys. "I have to pick up my - " she paused and looked at him. What's the point? Someone's bound to find out sooner enough. "My son. The good thing is that I already worked out the hours with the daycare and I'm not going to be too late to pick him up."

"Son?" Derek didn't expect that. "How old is he?"

"Six." Penelope smiled as they both entered the elevator. "Does everybody usually leave work at nine?" She stared at the buttons from 1-22. "Like the whole building?"

Derek nodded his head. "Yeah. I usually leave at eight but I lost track of time." He glanced at her and chuckled. "You obviously also lost track of time."

Penelope cleared her throat. "Sorry. My son had a nightmare last night so I barely got any sleep. I won't do it again, I promise."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not the one that signs your paycheck, I could careless." Derek laughed as he walked out the elevator. "Unless it's when you're doing something for me like a project," he halted his steps and looked at her. "Such as the current spring season project."

She smiled. "You're saying as if you're letting me," Penelope gasped and covered her mouth in shock. "Really?! You're going to let me work on the project with you?!"

"Well, as long as you don't let Luke find out, you can work on it with me and Jennifer." Luke adverted his attention over to the bakery in confusion. There were lights coming from the kitchen but the door was closed. "That's odd. Jennifer said that her and the other bakers were too tired to come back here and work on this order they got this morning."

"The order for 450 macaroons, right?" Penelope asked.

Derek nodded his head. "I was going to come in early tomorrow to help them out since it's a big order." He smirked as he zipped up his jacket and yawned. "Well, as long as I don't have to come in for work early, I don't care." Dangling his car keys from his hands, he smiled. "I'm going to head out first. See you tomorrow."

Penelope waved goodbye. She should leave too but again, this damn curiosity. Biting her lower lip, she carefully walked through the bakery and squinted her eyes though the door window to see who is inside. "What..." She knit her eyebrows and watch as Luke, who has flour all over him, was walking back and forth between the oven and the table. From what she can see with very little light that is inside, there were rows and rows of the macaroons over at the kitchen counters. Quietly, she continued watching as Luke balanced two new huge trays of fresh macaroons with his hands and onto the counters. As soon as he puts two different trays into the oven, he walked over to the sink to wash his hands. In one swift move, he took out little cute bags with ribbons attached to them out. Luke twirled his neck around for a few seconds, he must have a strain on his neck from all the constant baking. Penelope couldn't stop her mouth from opening, what is all of this? Has he been baking the macaroons since the moment she left the kitchen earlier in the afternoon? Just by staring at the batches of the macaroons that are done, there's at least only about 200 of them. He still has so much to do in such a short time span. She took one last peek just in time to see Luke adding a couple of macaroons into the cute little bags carefully.

Stepping away from the door and the bakery, Penelope stared aimlessly at the floor. "He end up learning and improving..." A small faint smile appeared on her face, something she didn't even notice as she walked out of the building.

. . .

"Good morning," Penelope greeted Jennifer by the door of the building. "You're here early."

Jennifer smiled. "I can say the same for you," she took a sip of her coffee. "You do realize that you don't have to come in as early like us. You're technically under the same hours as Derek since he comes into work two hours and a half later than the rest of us."

"I still think it's best if - " Penelope stopped talking when one of the bakers, she recognized to be Grant Anderson charges forward toward them.

"Grant, there's no need to run." Jennifer said. "We'll get the macaroons done in time. The people aren't picking it up until 2 and it's only," checking the time on her watch. "It's only 8."

Penelope arched an eyebrow at the timing that Jennifer thinks she has for the macaroons. Does she honestly think she would've gotten the order for 450 done in six hours?

"No." Grant said. "The macaroons are done!"

Jennifer looked at him as if he was crazy. "What are you talking about?" She started rushing over to the kitchen with Grant and Penelope following behind. "What the - " In front of them were rows of baskets with bagged macaroons inside. "Who did this?" She immediately looked at her junior baker. "Grant Anderson..."

Grant shook his head. "I wish I could say I did it." He picked up one of the bags and pointed at them. "Look at how perfect they are! You know that I still lack in that area of perfecting it."

She glanced over at the other bakers, who also were shaking their heads. "Well, whoever did it. Thank goodness."

Penelope heard the familiar sounds of Lynda's high heels again. She turned her head over to the doorway just in time to see Luke and Lynda walk in. "It's nice to see my employees come into work early."

"Did you give someone else permission to do the order of macaroons?" Jennifer asked him.

Luke glanced at the macaroons and the bakers. "No but I can see that they're all finished." He crossed his arms and looked at them. "Seeing as how it's done and the four of you did work hard for last night's wedding." He paused and shrugged his shoulders. "Take four hours off and come back to work afterwards. I want cream puffs to be out on display today."

"Wait, you're giving us a half day off?" Grant questioned to make sure.

"I can take it back if you want." Luke blankly said.

"No! We'll take it!" The other bakers screamed in happiness.

Jennifer narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you sure you don't know who did this? Did you assign this order for someone?"

"No," Luke repeated. "I don't know who did this order but as long as it's done and you get a break that you haven't gotten in a while, should we really be complaining here?"

Penelope has been standing in silence, listening to their conversation, waiting for the moment that Luke would say that he was actually the one that did the whole order by himself. The fact that he didn't admit to anything has her really confused.

"I expect to see two rows of cream puffs on display by the afternoon." Luke glanced at the bakers and stared around the kitchen. He didn't say anything else before he turned around with Lynda following and walked out of the door.

Grant scoffed. "The break's not even a break. It takes an hour to make the mixture and cream for the puff and another hour for when it's in the oven." He rolled his eyes. "The one moment we expect him to be caring, it's a joke."

One of the bakers sighed as he took out a huge bowl out to start the cream for the cream puffs. "That man is nothing but someone who complains. He does nothing for this company either. The one who did this order for us should be head of the company."

Penelope almost opened her mouth to correct the baker's words but she closed it. What's even the point? She doesn't feel it's necessary to share something good of what Luke did nor does she see a point in correcting somebody else's opinion. She quietly dismissed herself from the kitchen and head toward the elevators. She came just in time to share the same one with Luke and Lynda, sadly. Clearing her throat, she leaned against the back of the wall and watched as the numbers for the floors slowly go up.

"Sir, are you tired?" Lynda asked. Penelope glanced over to see Luke is leaning his head against the wall with his eyes closed and arms crossed. "Did you stay up to look over the new upcoming projects again?"

"You can say that," Luke silently said. "What time is our phone conference with Italy?"

Lynda checked her tablet. "In an hour."

"Bring all the detailed documents we have on their company and a cup of coffee into my office. I want to study on their foundation before the meeting starts." The sound of the elevators arriving to the 22nd floor immediately made him to stand up straight before walking out.

Penelope stepped out and silently watched as Luke entered his office. "So, that's how you look like when you're being serious..." Taking a deep breath, she settled into her seat and folded her arms as she stared at the time. Another beginning to what seems like another repetitive day for her.

. . .

Luke loudly yawned as soon as he was alone in the office. Collapsing in his seat, he placed his head onto the desk for a brief nap. This is the single moment that he wants Lynda to be late on the coffee and document. Finishing the order of macaroons around one in the morning and driving back home takes close to 45 minutes, he barely got any sleep in. This is the moment that needs, just peace and - he abruptly sat up as soon as he heard knocking on his door. "Come in."

Lynda showed up with his coffee in one hand and the stack of documents on the other. "Here is what you told me get." She stepped back and watched as he sipped the coffee and started getting into business as he opened the documents.

"You can leave now." From the corner of his eyes, he could see her nodding her head before walking out of the office. Luke stretched his arms and legs out for a few minutes and quickly returned back to work.


End file.
